Ezawa, Kota

Born 1969, Germany
Lives in San Francisco, California

Kota Ezawa re-presents iconic moments from the media and the history of photography in animated videos, slide projections, light boxes, and prints. Each project graphically reduces source material (such as the moment of the “Not guilty” verdict in the O.J. Simpson trial, or the Yoko Ono and John Lennon 1969 “bed-in for peace”) to a pared down animation that explores the mutable role of the camera and photography in the reception and understanding of reality.

IN THE GALLERY

A Space of Your Own, 2007
Celebrate Your Everyday Life, 2007

The artist’s light boxes from his IKEA series feature his signature computer drawing style. They further simplify the physical properties of the over-designed objects, suggesting that gesture, color, and context are used to formulate lifestyles that lead via branding to contemporary identity. Reminiscent of President George W. Bush’s call to go shopping after 9/11 as an act of patriotic solidarity, these works also suggest that self-fulfillment and power can be gotten through the material satisfaction of desire.

Hand Vote, 2008
New work, commissioned by Parsons for "OURS"

For "OURS," Ezawa has produced a new sculpture, a laser-cut wooden tableau of a group of people, raising their hands in what is read as referendum but might just as well be a confession. The image of the collective body united in a common cause is countered by the sharp frame that suggests another reality outside the image.